Adulthood is never easy, especially when it comes to meeting new people in big cities and making friends as an adult. It's not as easy as it once was. Whenever I meet new people in London, there's always a question that comes up:
How do you make new friends in a big city like London?
I don't think I would have ever actively thought about finding new friends if I were still in Hong Kong. Born and raised there, I have all my friends from school, work, and my family. People in Hong Kong also tend to stay and work here after graduation. Plus, Hong Kong is a concrete jungle, a small city. My friends are not scattered, and meeting up is easy peasy.
Moving to London alone without knowing many people is another story. It's like hitting a reset button in your mid/late 20s, and you have to rebuild your social circle in a new environment. Being an extrovert definitely gives me an unfair advantage in making new friends in London. Also, I enjoy exploring new places, eating out, and participating in outdoor activities. These interests help me bond with new people quickly.
So, how exactly do I build a social life in London?
Online Community
A Facebook group is a good place to start. Not sure if you've heard of a big community called The London Girls Club (sorry if you're a guy, oops…). This is an incredible community uniting all girls who live in London and are keen to make new friends. There are regular events hosted by the admin, and some girls post to get people connected. I read some posts and randomly joined a few WhatsApp group chats. From there, I met some like-minded girls to hang out with. We still meet up for dinner or lunch because there's another girl who likes trying new restaurants as much as I do (we have a very similar restaurant wishlist!). We would set a date to dine out and invite other girls to join.
I would recommend joining some Facebook groups and starting from there! I believe there are more London social groups as well.
Sports and Fitness
The running community is undoubtedly a good way to meet people with similar interests. I have met a few friends there (actually hung out and followed on Instagram!). Of course, most people only join 1-2 times. You might find it hard to keep chatting with the same person every time you go for a run. During the run, you can chat with a few new people, and the next time they come again, you say hi to them. Naturally, you develop your own tribe in running.
If you are into running, you might also want to find out London running communities here.
If you are not a big fan of running, there are different sports communities on Meetup like volleyball, badminton, tennis, or squash. Find the sport you enjoy and get a friend to share the same interest.
Networking Events
Recently, I have been to a few networking events and conferences to prepare for my career transition. Most of the people I chatted with, we connected on LinkedIn. Surprisingly, I did make a few friends there. We exchanged contacts and had dinner. However, this one I did put some extra effort into - proactively asking for a date to meet.
Friendship Apps
I discovered there are two friendship apps (algorithm wins again): Suppler Club and Timeleft. Both apps connect strangers over dinner.
Timeleft (here) - I signed up but didn't use it because it requires a subscription. The whole sign-up process took at least 10 minutes because it's a very long questionnaire. They use this data to match people with similar interests in the same dinner group. This app is available in many cities. The downside is the subscription is not cheap, not to mention you still have to pay for the dinner. That's why I didn't use it.
Suppler Club (here) - So far, I've attended two dinner events, and both were good experiences. They have dates and restaurants. You can pick your available date and pay a 3-pound booking fee. If you're the first one to book the seat, it's only 30p. There are late cancellation and no-show charges. The sign-up process is rather simple - just upload photos and basic information (age and job). The only downside is there aren't many restaurants to choose from. Since I don't want to travel a long way for dinner, I have limited choices in the areas nearby.
I do think other cities would have similar concept apps or events. A girl I met at a Suppler Club dinner told me she did a similar thing in Barcelona, Spain. You might want to do a bit of research.
Friends' friends
All my friends are very sweet. They introduce friends who live in London to me. Since we have mutual friends, it's usually easy to get along.
Work
Colleagues can be your friends! This is how I make new friends in Hong Kong as well. My colleagues are similar ages, and the company culture is very social. We have a lot of events (pub trips) and even company holidays. Work friends are the best because you have more to chat about. It's not hard to build meaningful friendships at work.
Above are just some ideas for meeting new friends in London and building a social life in London.
I am lucky enough to have so many wonderful people in my life, and I quite enjoy meeting new friends every now and then in London. Everyone has their own story, and you learn a lot from them as well. Moving to London alone pushes me to try new things every day, and I will take this opportunity to try out more.